1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method, apparatus, and system for interfacing between electronic devices and more particularly relates to a method, apparatus, and system for communication between electronic devices using different protocols and different modulation schemes.
2. Background Art
Advances in technology have enabled manufacturers of many consumer products to automate their products and make customer use of the product more convenient. Many products today provide remote access of a product to a customer through radio waves. For example, people can open their garages without leaving their car and can determine whether security sensors in their house have been tripped. The problem, however, is that these devices often operate on different radio frequencies or use different communication protocols so that each product must have a unique corresponding device to interpret the radio frequency transmissions. As more and more products allow for remote access, the number of corresponding radio frequency devices increases. This creates clutter and makes operation of the devices cumbersome, which often negates the desired convenience to the customer.
For example, Manufacturer A may make a motion detector and Manufacturer B may make automatic window blinds. Both may use some type of radio frequency protocol to enable remote access, but each operates at a different radio frequency, and they may each use different communication protocols to interact with a corresponding remote device. Neither remote device can work with the other product however.
From the foregoing discussion, it will be appreciated that it would be an advancement in art to have a multiple protocol apparatus that is compact and cost-effective. It would be an additional advancement to have such an apparatus that could interface with devices having different radio frequencies that span large band gaps. It would be a further advancement to provide such an apparatus that could interface with devices having different types of modulation, be it amplitude modulation or frequency modulation. It would be a further advancement to have such an apparatus that is dynamically upgradeable such that new devices can be added. Such an apparatus is disclosed and claimed herein.
The features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention without undue experimentation. The features and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.